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These are the twelve most frequently-used written characters - in sequential order - in the American-English alphabet (according to the inventor - Ottmar Mergenthaler - of the linotype machine).

They appeared in sequence (top-to-bottom) on linotype keyboards. A linotype machine was used to set newspaper type by entering the text on a keyboard which triggered the machine to create the "line" of text ("line-of-type") in hot metal (lead alloy).

Enter "linotype" in Wiki (or other search-engine) to see a pic of the keyboard and to read how the machine operates.

In 1980 there were over 1000 daily newspapers in the United States using such a machine.Hide